Fight

P 2935 This is where the Power went!

/ DVH

“So you must remain in life-union with Me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to Mine. “I am the sprouting vine and you’re My branches. *AS you live in union with Me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from Me you are powerless.” John 15:4-5 TPT.

Do you see that little asterisk in the scripture above? I put that there to make my point for today. I believe this is where the power of God has gone from our daily lives. We must not treat God’s love and passion carelessly!  We need far more respect, for Almighty God, our Saviour and the Holy Spirit. We’ve been saved to serve – we serve Them, They do not serve us. Perhaps the Body of Christ has become half-hearted, and lax in our faith. Please take note, I am speaking about the Body of Christ as a whole, not just one individual.

Unfortunately sometimes prayer and reading the bible is like trying to walk up a steep hill backwards with no idea about what is coming up behind you! I need back-up and I suspect you do too – so we pray for each other.

There are times our prayers seem unanswered, and they are sincere, tearful, heart-felt, passionate prayers. We fast, we pray, we plead, and yet lost loved ones remain lost, or they wander even further away!

People we prayed for died, instead of being healed. Or we are now further in debt than we were before. Why?? Because prayer is not an ordering system to get God to do something you want Him to do. Prayer is active communication and interaction between us and Him. Remember, if I don’t got it, after I asked Him – then I don’t need it!

The above scripture from John is an accurate diagnosis of my problem. John is trying to tell me something! Perhaps I have wandered away from active abiding into drifting. Maybe my faith is taking a back seat to my feelings …again. Because of this, I am no longer quietly enjoying my attachment to the vine. The solution, as I see it, is this — I need to use my faith and go back to resting in Him, and everything He did, even though learning to rest and abide can be difficult.

Unfortunately the church has been preaching activity and action for centuries! But all I need to do, is to continually live in my awareness and obedience toward Him, and He will continue to live in me. If sin has distracted me or dragged me away, then I need to repent and repair whatever has happened and then go back into trusting in everything He did.  WE FIGHT THE ENEMY, BUT WE REST IN GOD.

If I have had an argument with someone, then first of all I need to own I’ve left the Light behind. Because walking with Him means we have fellowship with one another, so if the fellowship is gone then ….??? !!! … I need to go to my brother, and ask them “have I offended you?” By the way, blame is a poor substitute for active learning. We need to learn to listen to the Lord … as well as our brothers and sisters.

We don’t need to defend ourselves because when we defend ourselves, we turn away from Jesus, Who is our Strong Defender. God will give us whatever we need! And that’s not just a happy verse – it’s the way we live. Jesus did not argue with His accusers – He yielded and trusted God to bring Him through those awful times. When it was satan tempting Him, the Lord thumped him with bible verses. 

The bible is truth. Over the years I have learnt to doubt myself, not the bible, because the bible is our measuring stick, our plumb line. It shows me what God wants from me. He won’t demand my response – He wants me to trust Him enough to believe Him and what He said. So if my faith ain’t working then it is because I am not practising what I am reading!

I may be misinformed, I may have wandered off into works, trying to please God. Meanwhile my nomad tendency is not your fault either, no matter how difficult you may have been! It simply means I have wandered off out of the ‘listening to the Lord’ meditating over His Word zone, and I’ve been distracted by this life. We get deaf when we stop using our faith, and believing that what He said, He meant!

Because the words ‘abide’ — or in this version above – ‘life-union,’— are not commonly used today I decided to look them up in the dictionary. Abide:‘Old English word signifying progressively to “await,” “remain,” “lodge,” “sojourn,” “dwell,” “continue,” “endure“; represented richly in Old Testament’. And the word ‘life-union’ means: “union with Christ.“ “Life-union” signifies a mystical, spiritual, and permanent connection between believers and Jesus Christ, where believers are united with Him in His death, resurrection, and life, leading to salvation and eternal life.” Thank you Google! Now there’s a bit to chew on.

Here’s something else … 1 John 1:6:“If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” Remember my little black rectangle at the top? Not walking in the light looks like that. We not only lose our hearing, we can’t ‘see’ either! God is not mad at us when we wander off – He is a good Shepherd. He goes after us and brings us safely back in His fold. But we need to revise whatever it is that we have been doing, under the guidance of the Word of God.

Why? BECAUSE JESUS IS THE LIVING WORD! That’s why! He becomes real as we practise what He told us to do. He makes this old, often hard-to-understand book, alive and pertinent to each of us, every single day. He inhabits it – just like God inhabits our praises.The Word of God washes us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness, when we pay attention to what it says, and stop making excuses for ourselves.

To be honest with you, I don’t much care how or where I pray either … on my figurative knees, or just walking around living with Him, mindful of Him. Prayer is essential, because prayer increases my awareness of Him. But it isn’t just talking! Now my life becomes a prayer, as I live this life around the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what is going on, or what I am doing. I don’t leave Him out of anything. Instead of putting a big tick over what I am doing, and saying to myself:‘Well, I’m in the light, so that’s not my problem’ … ASK Him what He can see that needs to be attended to. 

We lack power because we are not treasuring His Presence in our ordinary, every day lives. His Presence is the light in the darkness around us, not how we feel, or don’t feel. Bye.👋

P 2932 The 3 W’s.

/ DVH

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28.MSG

The secret to living like this is in the ‘walking’ and ‘working’ … and …’watching’ thing. Praise God we don’t have to do any of those things by ourselves — we are learning to do it all, every single bit of it, WITH THE REAL VICTOR right there with us! Seriously, we will struggle to win this war if we don’t know how to give into God, and lean on Him. This is where we learn to fight (walk), endure (work) and overcome (watch) – by simply surrendering. And yes, I agree, it sounds nuts. 

But yielding to His wisdom and Grace is leaning on Him so … give up! Tell Him you can’t do whatever it is you feel you should do and then keep on forgiving, if that is necessary. Remember to take your errant angry, or disappointed thoughts captive. If you start thinking about bashing someone up, repent, forgive them again. Go back to the Lord – He understands your disappointment etc. with yourself and others. Ask for His help to practice love in the face of hate. Kindness in the face of cruelty, patience in the face of interminable suffering.

We simply must stop pretending to be what we are not, and … let Him make the difference. Lemme ask this question: do you once see Jesus struggling to be what God sent Him to be? The only struggle the Lord had was with facing the crucifixion and even then He yielded! Even reading about that is a blessing to us. When we struggle with our lives, with really hard things, we are not faithless – we are human. Jesus understands our struggles. 

God does not do things the way we do them. We can’t overcome by gritting our teeth and telling everyone we are ‘fine.’  We do it by acknowledging our weaknesses, because that’s when His strength can be made perfect in us. If someone asks you in the middle of a struggle if you are OK, instead of pasting on a smile and lying, say something like this:‘I’m not OK. But I’m learning to trust that Jesus can do a miracle and make it OK.’ 

Christianity is an upside-down world. We receive by giving. We lose our rights voluntarily. We win by giving in to Him. We rejoice in the face of loss. We forgive by choice, not by our feelings. We learn to give people to God for Him to deal with them. He’s good at it. Read the book! God plays a long game! In today’s sue-them-or-punish-them world all that sounds completely NUTS. But eventually, losing means we win! 

That verse above is a wonderful recipe for walking with Jesus. When everything inside us is shouting:“There is no point in praying. This is the end. You can’t come back from here …things can only get worse!…”  We run like bunny rabbits straight to Jesus and say: “Lord please hide me.” And that’s when the Holy Spirit comes into His own. He’s so-oo good at fixing stuff. And every time you say no to what you want to do… you are growing the fruit of the Spirit in so many ways you won’t be able to count them. It’s HIS fruit, we can’t grow it! His fruit needs to be grown His way.

That person you wish you could avoid, or maybe you actually successfully avoid them, probably IS as difficult as you think they are. You are not lying to yourself. Why would anyone need Grace if someone else is already a nice Godly person? We need His Grace for the people whose aim in this life seems to be about making our life miserable. We must stop using avoidance to bring about an uneasy peace, and start walking with Him, working with Him, and watching how He does it. Most human beings are not nice enough on the inside to maintain a pleasant facade when they are under great pressure. 

Here’s a big thought … and … believe it or not I got it from a TV show – because Christians are too busy claiming this and praying for that … so now the rocks are crying out. “Humility makes a place for new possibilities.” There are things we can’t see when we are in the middle of a terrible struggle …but God can! He doesn’t want wounded warriors, He wants to truly heal us. Everything we meet is an opportunity to see this life from His point of view.

We can be influenced by the bad, hurtful things that have happened in our lives. Every now and then some angry word or action bubbles to the top, and we can’t figure out how it got there. Somebody or some situation reminds us of something that is long gone, but the memory of the pain lingers. However, when we deliberately choose to die to ourselves and we yield, God plants a tree in the place of our hurt and that tree starts to bear fruit. 

The only way through this often difficult life, is to live like He would, if He were you. HE UTTERLY RELIED UPON THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS FATHER! Jesus didn’t pretend – He loved people, yet He did not live to please them, He lived to please His Father. And then He accepted the consequences of that decision. He was always delighted to do His Father’s will.  

Walk away from your feelings, work at holding onto Him and watch what He will do. Bye. 👋

P 2806 Healing.

/ DVH

“…you will lay your hands on the sick and they will get well…”I’ve checked out these verses in Matthew, personally, in my own life and here’s my point for today —  sometimes when I prayed for people who were sick, and sometimes they got well, and sometimes … they died. To be fair, the ones who died were terribly sick, and they definitely died happier than they were before they were prayed for — but that was not the result ANYONE was hoping for in the first place.

Praying for sick people involves us taking a risk. When we love them dearly, that risk for them, and for those who love them and us, is HUGE. Sometimes we could think that the answer relies on us – or maybe we think that we won’t pray correctly? Loving compassion and obedience are our part, because prayer for the sick relies upon the Word of God. Meanwhile nobody likes ‘no’ for an answer.  

Plus, at the same time, we may have to … “wait.” Sometimes, there is a space between our prayer and His answer. We need to always pray and not give up and that is a painful place to have to live! In the meantime, the bible says: waiting upon the Lord renews our strength. That waiting is ghastly for the sick person, who is trying trying trying to believe and get well – and horrible for their loved ones at the same time – but keep right on praying. Jesus dismissed people telling Him that a child had died and a bigger miracle occurred.

I am comforted by the fact that the Lord’s disciples walked with Jesus, they themselves saw all kinds of miracles when they prayed for others, and they watched Him bless people with astonishing miracles. BUT at other times they prayed for people and nothing happened. His disciples were unable to minister to an epileptic person, or deliver a demonised child. These men were blessed to have Jesus walking with them, in Person, and He stepped in and healed the sick one. The Lord pointed out to the disciples that their faith was too small. We must point our faith at God Himself, His nature, His loving kindness – not just at an illness or even healing. 

I’ve learnt some stuff along the way. I am not God and I’m not perfect! In my passion for others I can easily promise things I can’t deliver. Meanwhile, I don’t know everything either! I am His representative, not the answer. My part in this process is to keep praying and not give up, because somebody’s well-being is at stake, even if my own faith is being shaken. The reality is:  failure can lead very quickly to disappointment for everyone. Particularly if the person concerned is someone special, and you love them. This is the place where our faith can atrophy and grow weary. Even when we don’t feel like fighting we must continue to fight. 

If you have ever prayed for someone for healing and they got sicker or they died, you may have noticed that shortly afterward … disappointment rushes at you like a freight train, coupled with incredible grief. Jesus said this to Peter in Luke 22:32:“… but I have prayed [especially] for you [Peter], that your faith [and confidence in Me] may not fail; and you, once you have turned back again [to Me], strengthen and support your brothers [in the faith].”   Jesus prayed for Peter before his testing time ever happened. He is praying for us, right now, too.

We are so programmed for positive results, that when the answer to our prayers is negative, logic takes over. Well why wouldn’t anyone grieve after a terrible loss? The thing is… the bible exhorts us not to grieve without hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13b “…so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.”  There’s a reason for that exhortation – our faith can falter when it appears to be unfulfilled.

Even in times of deep despair and sorrow we must ask the Holy Spirit to help us. We need His help to watch over our hope — because HOPE is our anchor. Our hope is IN Christ – His goodness, His mercy, His loving-kindness. It is not in the answers to our prayers – no matter how important they seem, or how fervent they are. Prayer changes US – it does not necessarily always change our circumstances. Talking with God and getting His perspective is essential, otherwise disappointment can crush us. I’ve noticed when this has happened to me, the next time someone needed prayer for healing, it was easier to step back, instead of forward.

We are commanded to pray for the sick etc. in Jesus’ Name. At the same time it is good to remember that the sick person’s life is ultimately in the Lord’s Hands. Like the disciples, we pray as He leads us and the opportunity presents itself. Acts 3:1-8 … bits of it: “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried … …at the gate of the temple … …to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.  And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; BUT SUCH AS I HAVE GIVE I THEE: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.”

Part of our problem concerning healing is that we don’t know what we have. Peter knew what he had. Do we understand that Christ lives in us, and He was, and still IS, always delighted to heal the sick? His compassion for mankind is huge. That thought should be the centre of our thoughts, not: “will it work – or not? We are commanded to pray for the sick to be healed. it is not an optional extra. I believe the biggest sin in the Body of Christ is inactivity. Bye. 👋

P 2765 Jesus just wants you.

/ DVH

 “A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect —life in its fullness until you overflow!”John 10:10 TPT. Let’s LET Him decide what abundant life looks like for you.

We can get stuck on verses like this one, especially when we think we already know what an abundant life should look like! Unfortunately this means we are trusting in our own understanding not in the Lord’s guidance. No matter what our situation is, whether it is good or bad, we need to ask Him for His input. Otherwise if a disaster falls on us suddenly, we can end up judging God’s integrity by what has happened. But the bible says:“The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” We can only see in part, Almighty God sees the whole picture and … He has a plan. Trusting in God’s goodness and faithfulness is an essential part of the Christian life.

This world has been making so much noise and fuss lately that without His help and daily input – I think it is difficult to see anything clearly. Opinions fly about like butterflies in the spring! The thing to cling to in any sort of trouble is His goodness and faithfulness. “He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” Psalm 91:4. He said it, we believe it – that’s the end of it!   

The Lord disciplines and teaches us His ways for a reason – He wants us to be SAFE no matter what is going on – and He values our faith. So we humble ourselves before Him, and wait for Him to speak to us. Things may not always look that great from our end while we are in the middle of this process — but we need to learn to resist the devil, and that means he has to leave!

Because it was good enough for Jesus to follow the Holy Spirit then it is good enough for us too. He will tell us what to do: “This the enemy – fight it.’ OR … “This is My will for you, just keep on walking. We are not there yet.” Almighty God has His Way of doing things, and we need to learn to yield to His processes – instead of trying to avoid them. He is refining us. Let’s not be fair weather friends — let’s choose to grow into being a faithful fiancé! The Holy Spirit knows how to prepare Jesus’ Bride. We don’t. We just like an easy life!

Isaiah said this sad edict about God’s kids: 5:12b”…but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of His hands.” It is foolish, BTW, to read these words as if they only apply to the Jewish people, instead, ask the Lord – ‘do I do that?’  Read the bible like He is talking to you, even if you don’t understand what it says, or why He is saying it! He is a faithful God and He is looking for a faithful people. That means in good times or bad, we keep on seeking Him. 

It says in Proverbs 3:6: ”In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].” Instead of ticking boxes when we read, or perhaps excusing ourselves, instead ask the Lord: “Where am I not acknowledging YOU?” The bible contains diagnostic tools that only work when we apply them to ourselves. Be humble – ask questions. Wait for Him to talk to you, before you excuse yourself. I have fallen down the ‘excuses’ hole many times, and then I started to see that I was dodging the Holy Spirit’s conviction! We are not right in our selves, we are MADE right in Jesus. God’s love includes correction.

Humility is a strange thing – it is much more than just self-effacement. It is an attitude of our hearts. My bible says that ‘our hearts can be deceitfully wicked above all else’ and I’ve caught mine out loads of times protecting itself. If you aren’t like that, I urge you to start thanking the Lord and don’t stop. What a gift you have been given! Humility begins when we realise what we are not, and we begin to see everything HE IS. In the face of His true holiness, that pious stuff we make up to look spiritual, crumbles instantly.

To be Holy we need to deliberately stay under the blood of Jesus. That means respecting and obeying God is …IN;  but rebellion against His will is …OUT.  Wishing you could whack someone around their ear-hole is … OUT. Secretly looking at others lustfully is OUT. You can make up your own list, but the point is, we may fool our friends, rabbits and relations but we can’t fool Him. 

Jesus Himself gives us the most wonderful key to overcoming all sorts of things in the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3. Recognise you are poor! Then live poor, and be needy. Need His help and instruction. We do not have to know everything. We are HIS. We gave our lives away – which means we don’t have them anymore!  Now we get to work alongside Him, and watch Him do stuff. Jesus just wants YOU. Bye. 🥰

P 2761 When the going gets tough, the tough get going!

/ DVH

In Nehemiah 4:7-9 it says:  “When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairs of the walls of Jerusalem were going so well—that the breaks in the wall were being fixed—they were absolutely furious.They put their heads together and decided to fight against Jerusalem and create as much trouble as they could. We countered with prayer to our God and set a round-the-clock guard against them….

13-14 So I stationed armed guards at the most vulnerable places of the wall and assigned people by families with their swords, lances, and bows. After looking things over I stood up and spoke to the nobles, officials, and everyone else: “Don’t be afraid of them. Put your minds on the Master, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes… V15 “Our enemies learned that we knew all about their plan and that God had frustrated it. And we went back to the wall and went to work.”

Having done all they could, that’s when these guys STOOD! Just like it says in Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore, put on the complete armour of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].”  

We don’t just need to learn to how to tear up the hypothetical ceilings in our lives, and in the lives of others;  we also need to know HOW, AND WHEN, TO STAND STILL. We simply must learn when to do what. And at the same time, when it is good to ignore the yammering threats of our enemies, so we can keep on going with the work God has given us to do for as long as we can.

I dunno about what is going on with you, but lately I have been reflecting on how soft I have become since I fell down the stairs. My arm and legs weren’t the only thing I injured! I think I bumped my faith badly as well! However, I praise the Lord that my dear hubby has taken us both out into the field, to talk to people about Jesus, anyway. Because otherwise I think I might have packed up my little travelling bag and quit. Physical disability can be very discouraging, and the older you get, the harder it is to pick yourself up and go again!

The point of today’s blog is this:  when you are fighting the enemy don’t cede your ground. Just stand still and wait for God. Even if you have to have your sword in one hand and a trowel in the other to help you rebuild your life. Are you physically dead yet? No?? Then it’s not too late to get up after your rest, and run again.Refusing to quit is the way forward. It leads to perseverance, and that makes us stronger spiritually. Let the weak say:‘I am strong in the Presence of the Lord.’ Even if I hit a wall, or in this case the floor! I am learning to shake myself, get up and go again!

I found this great little song by a group called One Republic, it’s not new (2021) I think one of the guys is a Christian but who cares?  The rocks cry out all the time! Meanwhile the words are so catchy, that they repeat themselves over and over again in my head. Here’s the chorus: “They tell you that the sky might fall. They’ll say that you might lose it all. So, I run until I hit that wall. Yeah, I learned my lesson, count my blessings. Look to the rising SON and run, run, run.”  Yeah, I changed one letter, because WE always look to Jesus – Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. We are all in this race.

Some days, I’m not physically up to running again, or even maybe rebuilding huge walls in the face of satan’s jeering  — but I’ve learnt that I can still stand …  even if I have to lean on something!!  (Proverbs 3:5,6.) I’m going to lean on Him because the bible says I can! I also love the bit in this song that says ‘I run until I hit that wall’ ‘cos I kinda did, and that’s when I found out that I can count my blessings from any position. The fact that some things still cause us pain proves that we are alive and present on planet earth! 

‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.‘ … But they just might need a cuppa tea and a bit of a lie down first!  Meanwhile music helps me with motivation. Sadly, sometimes Christian music can be a little bit too drippy and wordy for me. I feel like I am singing a saga, not a song. Some Christian songs have a million words, and every platitude ever written – whatever happened to catchy?? Back to the point … rebuilding the walls of your life can be tough. It takes guts – sorry, internal fortitude 🤪 – but God isn’t scared of old, decrepit, or even broken people. He promises to be their strength instead!

Our God is the Ancient of days. Nuthin’ scares Him!  Some of His best friends were OLD. Think about it. The thing that’s good about getting older is this – if you choose to let go of your pride, you can learn stuff. Good stuff, stuff worth learning. And you get it by bumping your head a lot, or some times you get it by falling down the stairs. It’s time for everyone to toughen up, and get going!  We will need every single saint for what lies ahead of us. Bye 👋

P 2728 God’s surgery.

/ DVH

Unlike an ordinary doctor’s surgery – in the Lord’s surgery there is no pile of dusty, over-used magazines and books, reporting on useless supercilious things from ages ago. There is just one book and if it happens to be dusty… then we are all in big trouble. 

Christians can become quite used to thinking that our lives are separate – and that each life is only joined together on church occasions, like worship or a sermon! Maybe we’ve temporarily forgotten our destiny. The Lord describes us as a Body. That may seem just like a metaphor, but it is actually a reality! The Lord Jesus is not going to marry a metaphor! The Bride of Christ is described quite thoroughly across the scriptures. ps – it’s US! …you and me – we are His Bride. Pause and think on that one! 

When I was thinking and praying over today’s blog, a phrase from yesterday’s effort kept floating through my heart. ‘One of …our tasks is to personally prove that scripture is active and effective!’ So how do we do that? We let it surgically cut away and remove any stuff we are convicted and convinced isn’t a part of His plan for our lives. Heaps of that kind of surgical stuff is written down in His book. It’s not just the ‘don’t do this bits,’ BTW, it is also the ‘please do that’ ones! The Lord Jesus Himself, gives us lists of the ways we are to live. (Check out Matthew 5) 

So let’s look at some other scriptures. The first is from 2 Timothy 3:16. “All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honourably with personal integrity and moral courage]; …”And Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The thing I want to make absolutely clear is that the bible is formulated to do more than just inform us. The bible is a book of instructions. Each instruction has a purpose. EG: it says don’t carry cares, so we must not carry cares! It says give all those cares to Jesus – so we give our cares to Jesus and we don’t take them back!

This book is our boot camp. Boot camp, BTW, is the place we send soldiers to, to learn how to discipline themselves and protect themselves, as well as fight! The bible we read daily, is for that purpose. Soldiers also go to boot camp to learn how to look after their equipment and find their place in the army. It’s a very physical place, it’s not cerebral. It is not just a library, although the armed forces have libraries – it’s a place where knowledge is learnt, and applied.

Hold onto your hat – it just might blow off… We dare not pick and choose which bible verses we like, and eliminate the ones we don’t. We have just come through a time in the history of the church where we were cherry-picking verses to suit the current theology. Not a good plan. All of God’s word is good for building up, instructing, tearing down, cutting off and getting rid of stuff. If we cherry-pick things we are in great danger of mishandling our sword. You can cut yourself really badly if you mishandle a sword!

Ya might want to pause and think on that as well! My best advice is to tell the Lord you are not confident you can carry out what He says and then ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. He’s our Helper, and He wrote the book- so He knows how to get us where He wants us. The Word of God comes from the Breath of God ...and … so do WE! Read Genesis. The bible is a fitting vehicle to build up, give us courage, challenge, change and correct us. It displays God’s Love perfectly, in every single book and chapter. Rightly used, it will remove stuff from our lives that can make us fall away, stumble, or be led off into lah lah land. It is not just a book with pretty sayings, it is a living book that lays out the way we need to live. 

It is used to give us confidence, and to build up Jesus’ Bride so she is worthy of His Love. He voluntarily gave His life for us, so it seems fitting to me that we will also voluntarily give up this world’s idea of what our lives will look like, for HIM! Because the bible is about far more than just information, we cannot afford to treat it like we would the dusty magazines in a doctor’s office. We must pay attention and allow it to work on us by applying it into our lives. It is designed to refresh and renew our minds so we will think like Jesus does.

We need to let the sword of God strengthen our arm and cut away any excess stuff that will hinder us from walking with Him. The bible is not given to us for us to agree with it – it is given to us so we will DO WHAT IT SAYS. God’s book leads us into His kind of surgery, so my advice is to read it like He is talking to YOU, because HE IS! 👋

P 2681 Absolute Surrender

/ DVH

“Since Christ, though innocent, suffered in His flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared soldier, having the same mind-set, for whoever has died in his body is done with sin. So live the rest of your earthly life no longer concerned with human desires but consumed with what brings pleasure to God.”1 Peter 4:1-2 TPT. 

And there you go, a fantastic standard that is impossible to reach outside of the governance of the Holy Spirit! This life is always about choices. Unfortunately, the church today is in a bit of a hole, because we have figured out ways to make that choice sound user-friendly, or – we’ve hidden the choices away somewhere in the fine print. The thing is, we cannot legislate, or even subtly obfuscate reality. Doing that will eventually turn around and bite everyone of us on the backside. It’s His truth that sets us free.

I think that the men and women of God in the New Testament learnt this kind of stuff as they went along. The whole idea that everyone was suddenly rendered instantly whole, spiritually sound, as well as personally fabulous, is error. They had a Saviour just like we do – they had to learn stuff just like we do. If you read the New Testament carefully, you will see that there were troubles, strife and skirmishes even as the church was developing and growing.

People still did the dumbest things, even though they had given their lives to Christ and wanted to live their lives for Him. However, back then they knew they had the Holy Spirit,He taught those people personally, He will do that for us too!We need to learn to value and appreciate His Presence more than life itself. The Holy Spirit is not just about speaking in tongues – HE is our Helper, our Counsellor, our comforter, our personal teacher. Cherish Him.

Meanwhile, the Christian life isn’t just about what we don’t do. It’s about what we must do – ON PURPOSE.  We’ve lived for years with rules that are almost impossible to keep, and at the same time we invited other people to join us. Then we got disappointed when they didn’t want participate. “Come to our church and we will actively teach you to obey a whole lot of rules that we can’t obey either!” 😳

The same method that saved us, CHANGES us. It’s called absolute surrender. We do it in faith and we live it out daily. The problems come because we pretend to be something we are not. We will have to die to be these people, His new creation, and that ain’t pretty. Sadly, we’ve subtly altered His life-giving invitation to live a new life IN Him – because: “come to our church and we’ll teach you how to get dead to yourself” doesn’t’ look good on a billboard! 

Today, many people in the West are living in a secular nanny-state that insists we must be politicly correct. I personally believe that particular premise invites deception. I’ve had a number of conversations with people who are working and living out in this world and they cheerfully parrot off: “Oh, you can’t say that now!” or “That’s inappropriate!”  Human beings are never going to be legislated into being changed  – we are way too inherently disobedient! I truly love putting Jesus in charge of me – mainly because my memory ain’t what it used to be, and if you hand me societal rules I will have forgotten them before I’ve even put them in my bag. 

I actually think this PC stuff is all nonsense. We need GOD Himself, active on our behalf, not lists of rules for things we can say – and things we can’t. You cannot legislate caring, unselfishness, and inclusiveness, because there is no underlying core in normal human beings that can support it. Human beings without God are awful. We killed the Lord of all glory and we had lots of words and theories to prove that was the right thing to do. Think about it – God Himself came here and we killed Him. Praise the Lord Jesus – He did not stay dead! Our hope is in the Saviour Who rose from the grave, not rules. The same Holy Spirit Who raised Him up will change us.

The Holy Spirit has incredible, selfless qualities in super, unmeasurable, abundance. All that plus WISDOM! But human beings don’t. Watch little kids in the playground. They will haul off and clock each other. They will snatch things – and they won’t care two hoots about the other child crying. Adults buy guns and knives because they don’t feel safe. They don’t feel safe because this world is not safe … selfishness and sin were born into all our hearts! What we want in and for ourselves is to be indulged, and proved right. However, the assumption that I know what is best for me is, at best, twaddle! The best way for humanity to be changed and transformed is to submit to Christ’s leadership. 

Absolute surrender is the only way to go. Otherwise we will begin to reject any rules, and grow resentment, and that stuff leaks out in particularly vicious ways when nobody expects it. It’s called anarchy. Soldiers do not enlist to have a desk job, they enlist to fight. And if need be – they will die for what they believe. We too, were born again to fight … but not each other. We are to daily fight the selfishness that surrounds us – releasing His love everywhere we go, and if need be, we will die for the people who hate us. At the same time we must stop fighting the Holy Spirit for the right to run our lives the way we want them to be, and simply SURRENDER to His Ways. That’s the way forward, totally surrendered and absolutely sold out for Jesus. 👋

P 2660 Our everyday bread …

/ DVH

Romans 10: 8-11 MSG:”The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what He did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting Him to do it for you. That’s salvation.”

We are all currently engaged in our God’s eternal processes. That means God is working in us, just like He did when He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Salvation is not a one stop shop – it is a process … which started when He saved us and continues to this day! The Holy Spirit is working in each one of us, day by day, to deliver us from the things that made us dead in the first place! Now we have to the power to turn away! He transforms our minds so we don’t think dead thoughts. He gives life to our mortal bodies so we can worship and serve Him in Spirit and in truth.

He also releases us to do eternal things, so we can carry His kingdom all over this world. V14: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Look at your feet. In God’s eyes they are beautiful – He gave those feet an assignment … to go everywhere and tell everyone we meet that He is not mad at people any more. SomeBody Else, a perfect human being who did not deserve punishment, stepped up to the plate and took our place of punishment. You and I should have been nailed to that cross – NOT HIM.

Now, because of the power that was released when He was raised from the dead – we can come out of the dead patterns and thoughts that have haunted us all our lives, and really live. Jesus Christ loved people. He saw restoration happening everywhere He went. People’s lives were restored, hearts blossomed. Their hearts were withering and dying under the very strict laws that were enforced upon them. However, those laws were designed to bring the Jews back to God. Sometimes we are more interested in Jesus Christ the Healer, than we are in Jesus Christ the Author of our ongoing salvation. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

The Lord is also God’s living Word – He’s more than just a human illustration – He is God’s Word per-son-ified. That’s our destiny too. To be daily transformed so that our lives are saturated in the Word of God. We obey it, soak it in and give it out to anyone … the good, the bad, the ugly. And as we press in to learn this kind of obedience, we will kill off the very things we’ve adopted and adapted as protective garments. So now we stand before the Lord and others, just like Jesus was on the cross. Naked. We must be naked to be fully clothed! We are unashamed of this nakedness, because He died to clothe us in HIS righteousness, peace, grace, love, faithfulness …

To enter into this new life we must choose to come out of the grave of our old life, just like Lazarus came out of the grave he was in. Now we let God Himself, and others … strip off the grave clothes that are still binding us into death. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is now alive and working in all of us. That dead life we led before cannot be in charge now – we’ve MOVED. We don’t live there anymore. We moved out of that darkness and now we stand blameless in His marvellous light because of what He did. 

However, it is totally unrealistic to expect our new life to look just like that old one! It can’t, because light and dark cannot co-exist together. One excludes the other, so you can’t have both. This is where the outworking of our faith lies. Not in raising the dead, or healing the sick, or saying Godly stuff – it lies in choosing to live in the place we’ve been given. That’s why our minute by minute choices matter. 

Our old enemies have convinced us that we are still bound to that old life, because those old choices can still appeal to us. But, the Truth IS, those things no longer have any power or control  – they are shadows, not reality. We left that stuff behind us, and now … we are living to follow Jesus day by day. Daily reclaiming the land that was ours from the moment we were born again. We have our own promised land. Christ IN us – our hope of glory. This new land He died to give us flows with milk and honey because HE LIVES HERE.

Today, and tomorrow, and all our tomorrows! … We must realise that we need to choose to fight the giants that we have let occupy that old land – our old life. The things we have allowed that have no place in this new life. We don’t choose which things have to go, the Word of God every single day divides between our thoughts and emotions and releases His truth so we can see it. We simply practice obedience and submit to what He says, every single day. That’s why we read the bible – to get our every day bread and marching orders. 👋

P 2615 Fighting fear at 3.00am or thereabouts.

/ DVH

We all know this one in some form or another. As we start to get a handle on wrangling fear, fighting with the Lord’s strength during the day, the wretched thing pops up at 3.00am when you can’t sleep. I call it the ‘what ifs.’  

What if this bad thing happens. What if that even worse one does? … What if I can’t cope? … What if I let my family down? First of all – let’s remind ourselves that at 3.00am very few sleepless people cope! These thoughts and many others like them, are a direct attack on our faith. Cheer up! The other guy wouldn’t be attacking our faith if we weren’t actually going somewhere with it. It is time to remind ourselves that …

“… God will NEVER give us the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit Who gives us mighty power, love, and self-control.”

2 Timothy 1:7 TPT. Did ya get the word NEVER??! So that clears up any possible suggestion of just who is behind those worries that are nagging at us, no matter what time it is, because it will NEVER be the Lord Jesus. 

Yeah, I know that seems to go without saying … except in those moments when a lack of sleep robs you of your ability to think clearly. But we can learn to fight for our peace. However, this verse is more about Who we have to help us, than about what we are fighting. We have the Holy Spirit Who wants to give us His mighty power, His love for the Lord and others, plus a spiritual gift called self-control. Ya might want to think on that for a minute or ten. 🤔 But not at 3.00am, or there’s a chance that we will get even more awake!

At that hour I personally need all the mighty power I can get, thank you Jesus! My brain turns into a washing machine. Strangely, that reminds me of something … old person’s ramble alert … many years ago, there was this ad on TV with a cute kid in it who is probably now in his 60s … if not dead. This kid says: “Guess whose mum’s got a Whirlpool?” I dunno about a fancy washing machine, but sometimes it sure feels like a whirlpool in my head! How about you? PS they don’t make Whirlpools any more – they cost a fortune even back then. Let’s mo-ve right along from useless trivia that no-one cares about … 

… And just look again at that terrific verse. At all times, in all places, sometimes even despite our lack of obvious spirituality… God GIVES US the Holy Spirit. I’m going to say that again because maybe it didn’t quite sink in  … our GOD GIVES US THE HOLY SPIRIT!! Now here’s the Gift Who keeps on giving! And He is totally unearned or deserved. At 3.00am very few people feel spiritual, but we know that our God will always help us. Ask for help! ← I’m just going to let that sit there so we can both think about it.🤔 🧐 

Here’s another weapon suitable for the 3.00am screaming meemies …“because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. ”So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my Helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”Hebrews 13:5b-6. Whatever is trying to pinch your sleep is between you and our precious Helper, the Holy Spirit, He’s the Person God has given us to be our Friend forever. He is always there. Other people. and the spirit of stupid they are currently swimming in, don’t belong splashing about inside our heads! Remember, distraction from the real point is the enemy’s biggest tool. he tried that on Jesus … and it didn’t work on Him, either. 

Psalm 34:15-18: “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.”← Did ya get that word all? So you and I can’t actually be an exception because all means ALL!“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Which is why we repent about anyone we are angry with, even if it IS 3.00am. 

Despite the old fashioned bible version above, I urge you to fight against fear for your right to sleep and be at peace, be-ca-use … “…  to His beloved one He giveth sleep.” Psalm 127:2. You are His beloved one – sleep belongs to you. Hmmm. At 3.00am it seems that I speak King James English. Meanwhile there is no truth whatsoever to the rumour that I am that old!  Bye …👋

P 2560 We are in a war and we must learn to fight.

/ DVH

2 Samuel 2: 1-7, 8-9. 12-17 plus 3:1. “So “David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the tribe of Judah. … … …

Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side.Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us. “All right, let them do it,” Joab said… …

So they stood up and were counted off—twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent’s side, and they fell down together…The battle that day was very fierce, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David’s men. … …

3:1 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”

Saul and David had a ‘history’ which consisted of King Saul trying at every opportunity to kill David. At one stage this king even took David’s wife, Michal, Saul’s own daughter! … and gave her to someone else to marry! satan does not fight fair either! I personally see these battles between Saul and David as a parallel to the battle we fight every single day, between the flesh and the spirit. David only ever did this jealous King good, because His ultimate loyalty was to the Ways of God and Saul was the anointed king..That’s also the way the Spirit of God works for us – He only does us good. No matter how things look – He wants to bless us.

In this life, thanks to everything Jesus did for us — just like David, we’ve already won. Our Hero, our mighty Warrior Jesus Christ, fought for us and won. And one day He will fight the last battle and dispose of that enemy forever. But even though we know that Jesus has already won on mankind’s behalf, yet we are still destined to have to fight for what is ours while we are here, because our enemy refuses to let go of this battle. Just like Saul – he will cheat and fight ’til the end.

However we can daily defeat our enemy by the way we choose to live!  We are the peace bringers and peace-keepers. We are called to rout out the enemy’s damage in people’s lives and usher in God’s kingdom – by the way we treat others. Our weapons aren’t ordinary – they operate in the Holy Spirit’s power. They are the Word of God plus our humility, yieldedness to the Lord, and Love is our greatest weapon of all! Even when our enemy tries to take us out – the key to winning is being prepared to die for Jesus’ sake. However, if or when we do not choose to enter the battlefield, we will still be battered and bashed by this life’s sorrows and suffering, and our flesh will lose every battle by default!

Sometimes the enemy’s strongholds are inside us – which means we must choose to fight our natural inclinations to be snarky and nasty and grab at things by force or manipulation. We do this by asking the Holy Spirit to help us. The devil will also twist our perceptions and our emotions to trick us into fighting over the things that don’t matter eternally. That means we will waste our energy and get weary in the battle. Our flesh will always be at war with the Spirit, because the Spirit has a much higher aim … to glorify God … Dying daily is the only way to learn to fight and WIN.

It is interesting to note that David had been selected as King, by God Himself – but not everyone in the kingdom accepted God’s edict. A whole lot of people still followed Saul! Which is why popularity is never our aim! This story shows me that there are many people who are not discerning. Spiritual discernment is one of the treasures I talked about yesterday, it keeps us from falling into sin’s snares. However, at the same time, any difficulties in our day-to-day lives need to be used as opportunities to be transformed in our POV, attitudes and actions with the Lord’s guidance and help. We should never ever forget that we are in a war, and let the stuff that rushes at us, take us by surprise, and change our aims. Our aim is not comfort – it is Christ proclaimed – we are to bring His kingdom here, now.

Sometimes I think that the Body of Christ is like a bunch of small children at a Bazaar. They run from this shiny new thing, to another tasty thing …without any thought at all. They chase after easy answers that will give them what they think they want. Immediate gratification. We are in a war, we MUST learn to fight. Even our own flesh only wants what it can see. However, the Spirit wants what only God can see, so we can see it too! Now that’s a good place to praise God! 🙌